Manal Makkieh is a Palestinian refugee in Lebanon, she was accepted in 2020 for a master's degree that takes place in four countries, including Portugal.

She now risks losing her place in the Master Programme and the €47,000 European Union funding she got, because she is caught up in the Portuguese bureaucratic web.

Manal's situation has even arrived at the Assembly of the Republic in Portugal, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Master's Consortium have failed to act.

One of the problems for the delay in her visa, as in other cases where Palestinians residing in Lebanon cannot obtain documents to study or work abroad, is the fact that the country does not issue passports to refugees (only travel documents, the so-called “laissez passer” ”). However, all countries that have signed the Geneva Convention (all of the United Nations and therefore all of the European Union) must accept this document.

While it's not Manal's fault she's not able to obtain her visa in time, the Master's Degree Coordination is threatening to expel her from the Programme, even though most of the classes are still online (via Zoom), due to the pandemic.

Therefore, we need Manal to come to Portugal as soon as possible in order for her to keep her place in the Programme, which she is truly deserving of.

Discrimination on the basis of nationality (or lack thereof) is a serious human rights violation and Portugal, especially the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has to be held accountable for it!